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Judgment Day (2003)
Judgment Day (2003) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It took place on May 18, 2003, at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was the fifth annual Judgment Day event and featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown! brands. Eight professional wrestling matches were scheduled for the event which featured a supercard, a scheduling of more than one main bout. The first match from the SmackDown! brand featured WWE Champion Brock Lesnar's defeat of The Big Show in a Stretcher match to retain the title after Rey Mysterio interfered, attacking The Big Show. The second match from the Raw brand was between Kevin Nash and World Heavyweight Champion Triple H, where Nash won by disqualification. Three matches were featured on the undercard. The first match featured Women's Champion Jazz defeating Victoria, Jacqueline. and Trish Stratus in a Fatal Four-Way Match to retain the title. The next was a Battle Royal featuring Christian, Val Venis, Chris Jericho, Lance Storm, Test, Rob Van Dam, Kane, Goldust, and Booker T for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. Christian won the title, re-activating it after it had been unified with the World Heavyweight Championship in 2002. The final was between the team of Eddie Guerrero and Tajiri, and the team of Team Angle (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin) in a ladder match for the WWE Tag Team Championship. Guerrero and Tajiri won the match and the titles. Storylines The event featured nine professional wrestling matches with outcomes predetermined by WWE script writers. The matches featured wrestlers portraying their characters in planned storylines that took place before, during and after the event. All wrestlers were from either one of the WWE's brands – SmackDown! or Raw – the two storyline divisions in which WWE assigned its employees. The main feud heading into Judgment Day on the SmackDown! brand was between Brock Lesnar and Big Show, with the two feuding over the WWE Championship. At Backlash, The Big Show defeated Rey Mysterio and then attacked him with a stretcher. On the next episode of SmackDown!, Lesnar confronted Big Show about it while Big Show refused to face him. The next week, Big Show was set to team up with A-Train against Chris Benoit and Brock Lesnar, as Lesnar challenged Big Show to a Stretcher match at Judgment Day. The F-B-I then locked Lesnar in his room as Big Show defeated Benoit. Big Show tried to injure Benoit as he did to Mysterio but Lesnar saved him, only to get chokeslammed by Big Show. The next week, Big Show took Rey Mysterio during an interview to the ring as Lesnar ran out and saved Rey. The main feud on the Raw brand was between Triple H and Kevin Nash, with the two feuding over the World Heavyweight Championship. On the April 28, 2003 episode of Raw, Triple H and Ric Flair challenged Rob Van Dam and Kane for the Tag titles. Nash interfered and then chased Triple H out of the arena, as Triple H flew with his car. The next week, both Nash and Triple H were guests of the Highlight Reel, Chris Jericho's talk show. Both brawled all over the arena. The next week, Nash fought against Jericho, and won after Shawn Michaels prevented Triple H and Ric Flair from interfering. Nash then hit Triple H with the Jackknife Powerbomb. The secondary feud on the SmackDown! brand was between Mr. America (Hulk Hogan) and Roddy Piper. After Hogan won against Vince McMahon at WrestleMania XIX, McMahon was frustrated with him and wanted Hulkamania to die, and forced him to sit out the rest of his contract. For weeks after that, mysterious Mr. America promos airing for weeks during SmackDown! shows. On May 1, Mr. America debuted on SmackDown! on a Piper's Pit segment. McMahon appeared and claimed that Mr. America was Hulk Hogan in disguise; Mr. America shot back by saying, "I am not Hulk Hogan, brother!" (lampooning Hogan's use of "brother" in his promos). McMahon couldn't fire Mr. America due to his contract with Stephanie McMahon. The next week, Vince said that he would prove that Mr. America is Hulk Hogan in order to fire him. He interviewed Hogan live via satellite from his home, but then was informed that Mr. America was in the building. Vince tried to rip the mask off Mr. America's face but Mr. America laid him out. The next week, Piper challenged Mr. America to a match at Judgment Day, but then Piper attacked Mr. America and his fan. Piper then pulled the prosthetic leg off the fan, who was revealed as Zach Gowen. Aftermath Results Other on-screen personnel See also * List of WWE pay-per-view events * Judgment Day Category:Judgment Day Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events Category:2003 Pay-Per-View Events